Food Plots Sorghum

[hunter7272]

Any of you guys had any luck with planting grain sorghum for deer? I like that they would potentially not eat it in the summer and be a good fall and winter food for them but not sure how heavy they would use it!

 

[Ski]

Tried a couple strips this year. It grew pretty well despite the drought formed heads. Deer ate it once the heads turned red. I liked that it survived to maturity. Better than my corn that got pulled out of the ground before it reached 3".

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Yep - the deer love the heads and the "cover" it provides in plots

 

[deerhunter10]

We planted it last year. It's a cheap version of corn just not as good food wise. We probably won't ever plant it again unless for screening purposes. Which is part of the reason we planted it to begin with. But about this time of year it wasnt as tall as i wanted it to be. But it did good and deer ate it just not nearly as productive as corn obviously.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Yep, planted it several times. It does great, and deer will hammer the heads on it.

 

[Popcorn]

It's always in my summer blends. Good for cover.
Sudan sorghum gets tall, short stature sorghum or Milo is short. Nothing but cows and mules will eat it till the seed heads ripen then deer and turkey will pick the seeds readily. Rolled down it makes a great ground cover / weed mat.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I usually bought wgf sorghum from coop when I planted it. Been several years since I planted it though.

 

[megalomaniac]

Never seen deer so focused on a single food source as they were sorgham heads mid Sept this year. Wiped out all the heads on a half acre plot in 1 week.

 

[yellalinehunter]

Never seen deer so focused on a single food source as they were sorgham heads mid Sept this year. Wiped out all the heads on a half acre plot in 1 week.

My experience this year as well

 

[deerfever]

I planted the wgf sorghum the first year I had my property, it came in nicely. There was a small buck that would lay out in it and never budge while I was up on my tractor, guess he thought I couldn't see him, Lol.

 

[BSK]

I've been planting it the last couple of summers. It produces a huge amount of biomass for the soil. However, I'm planning on switching to the shorter dwarf sorghum (milo) next year, and planting at a lower density. The sorghum grew so tall and dense that it shaded everything else out. And it was so tall by late August that it made spreading the fall seed very difficult. Unfortunately, I don't have the extra acreage to let it stand into fall. I need every square inch for my fall food sources.

 

[Popcorn]

I've been planting it the last couple of summers. It produces a huge amount of biomass for the soil. However, I'm planning on switching to the shorter dwarf sorghum (milo) next year, and planting at a lower density. The sorghum grew so tall and dense that it shaded everything else out. And it was so tall by late August that it made spreading the fall seed very difficult. Unfortunately, I don't have the extra acreage to let it stand into fall. I need every square inch for my fall food sources.

You will like the result of this plan. The Milo combined with less density will translate to a more leafy, compact but robust plant in comparison to previous crops. Give it some nitrogen and watch it go.